jondwhite
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The following letter was printed in the Morning StarFreedom Press anarchist bookshop in East London was firebombed on 1 February 2013. On 17 March, the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) in South West London was broken into and ransacked. Last weekend I was dismayed to read (Morning Star, Sat 14 – Sun 15 December) of the raid of the North London home of Sam Fairbairn the national secretary for the People's Assembly. Needless to say, in all of the above cases, police investigations have ceased and no culprits identified or apprehended.Jon D. WhiteSPGB
You don't have to be insensitive and aggressive to make a case for scientific socialism rather than moral appeals. In fact I think moral appeals are more likely to be upsetting.
A division over identity politics (or 'liberation politics' as it is called in the article) is emerginghttp://www.internationalsocialistnetwork.org/index.php/ideas-and-arguments/organisation/305-notes-on-a-footnote
dedelste wrote:"what makes you think that your approach will ever achieve a worldwide super-majority for socialism?"Quote:"People who take a rational, scientific approach have to consider empirical evidence, don't they? Anyway, I'd like to know what evidence you see that you will ever win politically."Reading between the lines, and correct me if I am wrong, I think there's two questions the original post relates1. Is the SPGB case invalidated by the current lack of support for the SPGB?To which I would say no. The more basic question that answers the above Brian answers is2. Is scientific socialism's theory of history amount to economic determinism about society as Karl Popper claimed?To both of the above questions, I would answer no.Camden branch wrote a reply in 1974 to a member called John Crump asserting the latter was the view of the early SPGB. The SPGB pamphlet from 1932 Why Capitalism will not collapse states“The lesson to be learned is that there is no simple way out of capitalism by leaving the system to collapse on its own accord. Until a sufficient number of workers are prepared to organise politically for the conscious purpose of ending capitalism, that system will stagger on indefinitely from one crisis to another”.
There are reasons given herehttp://sussexasn.tumblr.com/post/69499029324/swp-off-campus
Quote:A few days ago the SWP turned up to one of the Sussex 5 solidarity demos. They brought a mass of placards and papers, which they proceeded to distribute from the obligatory stall. We binned their placards, turned over their stall and burnt their papers. We will not tolerate the SWP on our campus. Their consistent attempts to shame, intimidate and gaslight survivors whilst protecting rapists is disgusting. It is also important to emphasise abuse and the protection of abusers is not limited to the SWP, but is endemic across the left. We will fight it wherever we find it. Our solidarity will always be with the oppressed in their fight against the oppressors. Burn the SWP.And a supporter of the attack herehttp://stavvers.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/an-anticipatory-obituary-for-the-swp/and more explanation herehttp://crowdfury.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/why-we-trashed-swp-stall-and-why-well.html
I had a little look at the awardshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Military_AwardsThe real winners are herehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defense_contractorsThe chief execs ofHalliburtonBAELockheed-MartinBoeingBlackwaterRaytheonNorthrop
Camila Vallejo is interviewed herehttp://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-d9d8-Interview-A-chance-to-transform-Chile-for-good
Sorry to resurrect this, but the weekend SWP conference has produced a number of further SWP resignations including Tony Cliff's biographer Ian Birchall. Some reports have stated a comment made at the conference that "sometimes women and children lie" was applauded. This, if true, is a supposedly justified response to specific serious allegations.http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/swp-comrade-x-resigns.html
The short answer is the internet. The internet has made it futile to try and restrict discussion, as you will hear the so-called 'socialist workers party' say 'internal discussion stays internal' and expel members discussing it on facebook as was done this year. They have yet to come to terms with the internet, perhaps they never will.Even if the SPGB had never set up forums online, no member should have their membership eligibility affected by openly discussing, disagreeing or criticising the SPGB elsewhere on the internet (facebook etc.). Just as pre-internet, members are free to discuss, write about SPGB business wherever and whenever. This pre-internet period is the period when Bolshevik parties were just as hostile to openness and would be expelling members discussing internal matters in public.Does this sound like the sectarian behaviour that the SPGB is often characterised as having? Often sectarian is misused to mean sustained political criticism, but the more important question is would a sect really be so open and transparent?However, the SPGB has set up forums, in fact since since 2001 in some cases. For over a decade, quite possibly the longest a political party has run forums which still exist, the SPGB has had forums for discussion online. Even the supposedly open AWL refused to acknowledge this fact when patting themselves on the back for allowing comments on their website and claiming to be unique.There is some criticism of the SPGB on the WSM Forum yahoo group from a former Deleonist who dropped the class struggle called Ken Ellis. I can provide you with some historical critiques, some better than others, if you PM me your e-mail address. Forum Journal from the 1950s, should really be available on this site, its available on scribd, but its a little airbrushed out.Personally, I think some members of the SPGB has become more conflict averse when it should be conflict aware and on the other hand some members like people in any organisation anywhere have made the occasional ill-judged belligerent comment in a meeting when generally it should be more considered.Discussing critiques of the SPGB on forums other than on SPGB forums, would probably help on two or three counts. One and the most important and dramatic effect, it would prove our commitment to openness. Two, it would better equip members for rational discussion of politics with other non-members. Three, it would raise the profile and awareness of the existence of the SPGB.But if any organisation tells you its members are perfect then you shouldn't believe them and its usually a sign they're willing to deceive you from the beginning.
David Lammy is no John McDonnell. David Lammy always struck me as not someone to let people or principles get in the way of power and personal ambition.
I think the CPGB (who host London Communist Forum) practise is not to include floor contributions in recordings (except perhaps in some of their very early videos). It could be to do with not every audience member giving permission.
Platypus ask and get an answer … I thinkhttp://therealmovement.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/platypus-question-no-6-is-there-a-concrete-demand-for-the-immediate-abolition-of-wage-labor/Personally I don't like the term 'concrete demand'.
